Our Five Frugal Things - Episode 3

This past week I have been reading up about the Found Change Challenge.

According to Katy Wolk-Stanley... "the Found Change Challenge [is] a year-long project to save up all [her] picked-it-up-off-the-ground money and then devote it to a single cause in the end."

It would appear that she has been doing the challenge yearly since 2012!

So I thought that I would give it a go!

My goal is to save up all the "found change" including that which I pick up off the ground and find under couch cushions and "devote it to a single cause at the end" of the year.

I have my jar all ready!

Now I just need to decide what to devote it to.

In the meantime...

here are Our Five Frugal Things ...

1. We shopped some of the marvelous food sales happening at PnP and Checkers.

We budget to shop weekly instead of monthly as this gives us the opportunity

to catch the various sales that often happen during the month.

We earned smart shopper points and got an extra R35 off

 our total by using 2 special cash off vouchers!

We earned ebucks at Checkers and took advantage of the great double-up deals.

We used our cloth reusable bags to carry our shopping.

2. I revamped a little patch of garden and spent no money on it.
I simply moved some plants from another part of the garden and split
up a large plant into 6 smaller pieces. I started off with one of these plants
18 months ago and it has grown and multiplied into 21 plants in total so far!
Plants are wonderful things!

(before)                                                           (after) 

We continue to harvest little bowls of bush peas every 5 days or so.

3. With our car being a 1999 Opel Astra, it needs some TLC every now and then.
One thing that we did recently was to replace the spark plugs.
This needs to be done every 6 months or so on our car.
We did it ourselves!
 There was a time that it would cost us R100 - R150 to have someone do it for us
and that excluded the cost of the spark plugs.
We just felt overwhelmed by the task and didn't have the right tools.
Last year I persuaded Nic to just take the plunge and learn how to do it.
He purchased the correct sparkplug spanner for our make of car and paid a mere R40 for it!
He watched a youtube video and has been changing the spark plugs ever since!
It really saves money to do these smaller jobs oneself.

4. I recently signed up with The Home Testers Club to test some products for them.
In return for receiving a free product, one tries the product out at home
and then writes a review on their site. It's a fun hobby!
Today I received a box of Royco Marinade - cook-in/basting sauces to try out,
and they were delivered to my door.

I will be sharing 9 pouches with friends.
With it being Heritage Month in South Africa and National Braai Day
happening on the 24th, these will make fun and tasty gifts to hand out.

5. While out at Clearwater Mall a few weeks ago, to run errands and drop
Liam's resume off at various bookstores, Nic, Madison and Liam
stopped to enjoy the Lego Expo that was happening in the Centre Court.
They really enjoyed perusing the fine craftsmanship of the exhibitors.
It's fun and rewarding to find and enjoy cost-free exhibitions!

(Some of the exhibits)

I also signed up for an event happening in November, which I am particularly excited about!
I booked 3 tickets for a Christian Women's Gathering
 that will be taking place at Black Eagle Boutique Hotel and Conference Centre.
This event features some inspiring speakers and includes lunch.
AND it's cost-free! I can't wait for this fun day out!

There is abundance in frugal and provident living!